Greenwood Lake parents back Tuxedo school option

Greenwood Lake — Having been given the option of sending their children to high school in either Chester or Warwick, Greenwood Lake families are now fighting to keep Tuxedo on the menu.

BY JOHN SULLIVAN

Greenwood Lake — Having been given the option of sending their children to high school in either Chester or Warwick, Greenwood Lake families are now fighting to keep Tuxedo on the menu.

Hundreds of parents and students walked down Greenwood Lake's main strip Wednesday night demanding to include Tuxedo's George F. Baker High School as an option, along with Warwick and Chester.

Mary Fagan, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said many parents felt betrayed when Tuxedo was left out of the mix in a school board decision last month to allow parents to choose between Chester and Warwick. A highly-ranked small school, Baker would provide a better education than Warwick or Chester, she contended.

Fagan's group collected more than 600 signatures on a petition asking Greenwood Lake's school board to reconsider Baker. The Tuxedo School District emailed Greenwood Lake last week offering to reduce its $13,900 tuition by $900, she said.

Greenwood Lake Superintendent Richard Brockel confirmed that offer but said it was still not enough to make Tuxedo viable. Even at the lower rate, Tuxedo would be charging $3,500 more than Chester and more than $5,000 more than Warwick, requiring Greenwood Lake to raise additional taxes, Brockel said.

"Our board can't justify doing that," he said.

Carolyn McAteer, another organizer of the walk, said more than 350 people showed up for the demonstration, initially expected to draw 200. The walk started around 5:30 p.m., heading down Windermere Avenue and circling the Greenwood Lake Elementary School, where the board met at 6:30.

Greenwood Lake has sent its teens to George F. Baker for some 30 years, but cuts in state aid, declines in local tax revenue and the new 2 percent cap on tax levy increases pressured the district to consider cheaper options as the contract with Tuxedo runs out this year. Both Warwick and Chester receive far more state aid, which makes their tuitions cheaper, but also makes them more vulnerable to upheavals in that aid, Fagan pointed out.

Fagan said Tuxedo was dropped for political reasons. Fagan was one of four people on the seven-member Greenwood Lake school board who voted for the Tuxedo-only option in April. But Fagan lost her seat in the May election to a candidate who shifted the balance of power away from Tuxedo, she said.

In June, the board rescinded its prior decision to go only with Tuxedo and reopened talks with other districts.

School board President Laura Williams could not be reached Thursday for comment.